Portfolio.com did an interesting estimate on how much money Stairway to Heaven  has made over the years.  You can check out the full article here.

In the end they estimate that Stairway to Heaven has made over $500 million and could make at least another $10 million if Led Zeppelin decided to license it for use in commercials, movies and TV shows. (more…)

Want to know what a promoter is thinking when reviewing EPKs? Interested in industry and submission advice from the horses mouth? Check out our quick chats. (more…)

I’m a bit of an online news junkie thanks largely to the deadly combination of Digg and Netvibes.  Every now and again I stumble on an article about the music business that goes beyond the stock “Is the music industry dead?” question and looks at what’s really going on.  Here are a few great ones that stood out to me:

David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne dissects the current state of the music business to identify a range of strategies bands can use to make a living making music.  This is the best introduction to the business side of music I’ve seen online.

China: The Future of Free?

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail posted some observations on the music industry in China.  What’s really interesting about the music business in China is that due to rampant piracy virtually no money is made on selling CDs so musicians are forced to make money from their music in other ways.  The blog post also links to a more in depth article about music in China.

RIAA Sues Radio Stations For Giving Away Free Music

Sometimes a bit of satire is the best way to get a point across.  Here’s a great article from The Onion which satirizes the filesharing lawsuits.  Ironically, when radio was first invented this actually happened.  The record industry at the time was worried that if people owned a radio they’d never buy another record.  ASCAP which was already chancing down venues and restaurants to pay licenses for playing music, took up the task of getting radio stations to pay for a blanket license to broadcast.

If you know of some other cool articles/blog posts that discuss the music biz share them by posting a comment.

Greetings Friends,

This is my first blog post here, so I wanted to write a bit about something that I feel is very important. I found this article on billboard.biz about Fuse and Microsoft working on an integrated campaign called “i’m Initiative” which helps fund charitable organizations. The article is relevant to the topic that’s always on my mind: “How can we use music, media and art to better the lives of others?”

I know a lot of the large corporations in the world get a bad rep because they represent “The Man” (and yes, sometimes rightfully so), but we often fail to recognize the good and amazing potential that can come from these large companies. The monetary and time resources large corporations have to offer to charities can really make a significant difference to the non-profit world. It can take months for a small non-profit to generate enough resources to run an event, but with the help of a large corporation, it can happen in a couple weeks. (more…)

This past weekend I had the privilege of traveling to Ottawa, ON to represent Sonicbids at COCA’s annual national conference. This was my second consecutive visit to the COCA convention, and it’s one of the nicest groups of people I’ve ever encountered.

COCA is where all of the Canadian college programmers gather to see talent and learn about running an organization. In addition to showcases, there are educational sessions where students and professional bounce ideas off of one another.You can check more out here.

The Chair for this year’s National Convention was Christina Burns from McMaster University, and she and her staff did an exceptional job organizing the conference. It was truly one of the best events I’ve been to this year (and I’ve been to more than a few). (more…)

Just back from Toronto where I attended NXNE.

I moderated a panel with the guys who book SXSW, CMJ, Eurosonic and Hillside Festival and the topic was “I’m a Band, can I Play Your Festival?” I loved the guys on the panel, they were all pretty engaged and entertaining, and we had a great turnout too. (A special thanks to Ruud from Eurosonic who missed the awesome Netherlands (4) – France (1) game to be on the panel. If you love football as much as I do, you know that’s a big deal.)

Basically, it boils down to this: always keep your Sonicbids EPK updated with the newest info and dates; pay attention to your bio; do use social media like Facebook and MySpace; look to play gigs outside your local area; befriend bloggers and get write-ups; don’t give up even if you are rejected the first try; and (of course) play/write great music. (more…)

Getting ahead in the music business today means setting your sail in the right direction. Peter Spellman (mbsolutions.com) presents four guidelines to help musicians ride the winds of change towards success, and to thrive (not just survive) in their music careers.

This is an episode of “Music Career Juice”. n. Music Career Juice:1. Tools & tactics to help ‘juice’ your indie music career; 2. Mind & soul supplements designed to move your music career forward; 3. Illuminating insights on the music business, music marketing and music career development.

Peter Spellman is Director of Career Development at Berklee College of Music, and author of numerous music career guides. Find him at mbsolutions.com.